Baltimore Ravens - TeamReport

The Super Bowl champion Ravens have a dozen draft picks, and some serious needs at inside linebacker, safety and offensive tackle.

Known for their drafting acumen and finding future Pro Bowl players even drafting late, such as past finds like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Todd Heap, the Ravens are drafting 32nd overall.

Assistant general manager Eric DeCosta said the Ravens need to pick carefully and not squander their selections.

"I think the thing we want to try to do - this is something that Jimmy Johnson believes - when you have a lot of picks as he had when he did the Herschel Walker trade, you've got to make sure to approach the draft like every pick is the only pick you have," DeCosta said. "It's easy when you have so many picks to just throw some picks away and deal and do all these different things. I want to make sure that each pick that we have is gold. It's like a lottery ticket, a (scratch-off) ticket. You have to make sure that every pick at that point is the only pick you have. You have to nail that pick."

The Ravens have been linked to inside linebackers like Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, Georgia's Alec Ogletree and LSU's Kevin Minter as well as safeties like Florida's Matt Elam and Florida International's Jonathan Cyprien.

DeCosta expressed confidence that the Ravens will get a good player at their spot.

"The quality of player between 15 and 45 is excellent," he said. "I think there are players in every round that we like. It's slotted very well and defensively, it's a very, very strong draft. Offensively, it's pretty good and up front on the defensive and offensive lines, we see a lot of really, really good players."

The Ravens have added pieces in the offseason to bolster their defense, including free safety Michael Huff and inside linebacker Rolando McClain.

But they're far from done.

"What we've done in the offseason thus far will have very little impact on how we've approached the draft, how we've stacked the board and how we will take players off the board," general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "We feel like if there are quality players on the defensive line, at linebacker and at safety, we still feel like we can add more of those players to our team. To say that we're not going to take the best players, that would be wrong. They talked about us taking some interior defensive linemen. We could do that. Could we take some inside linebackers? We could do that.

"Could we take some safeties? We could do that. We won't pass up good corners. You don't ever have enough good corners (and) you don't ever have enough good pass rushers. Could we come away and say out of the 12 picks, if we use all of them, seven or eight will probably be on defense? Yeah."

Safety is a particular consideration for Baltimore.

"In all seven of the rounds, there is a safety that we could take," Newsome said.

Added DeCosta: "I think you always look at need. We say best player available, but you have to factor need into the equation. If the best player available is a quarterback in the first round, we're not going to take him. So you have to look at the best player available based on need. Obviously, if you have three players that are next to each other in your sequence and one player is a big need and the other players aren't needs, even if the other players maybe are ahead of the one player that is a need, you're going to switch your list because they are all close."

-----------------------------------------------

NFL Team Report - Baltimore Ravens - NOTES, QUOTES

--Just 10 days after signing a contract with the Ravens, linebacker Rolando McClain is in trouble again. McClain was waived by the Oakland Raiders on April 5 after a series of off-field incidents in Decatur, Ala.

After signing with the Ravens, he claimed to be a changed man. However, he was arrested Sunday in Decatur and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest following a disturbance at Pines Park in Decatur.

Witnesses told a local television station that police ordered McClain and others to leave the park because there was a large crowd. McClain apparently refused and cursed the police after which he was handcuffed and taken to jail. He posted $1,000 bond.

Lt. John Crouch said on a Baltimore radio show that when poiklce arrived at the park, someone yelled "f--- the police." Crouch added, "It appeared that whoever it was was trying to get the crowd stirred up. They eventually identified the person in the crowd, moved in and told him he was under arrest for disorderly conduct. At which point, he tried to jerk away. The officers grabbed his arms, he continued to struggle, trying to pull the officers further into the crowd. They did eventually get handcuffs on him. At that point, they recognized him as Rolando McClain."